Ireland's medallists from the inaugural European Games in Azerbaijan met with a raucous reception as they returned to Dublin Airport on Monday.
An expectant crowd gathered in Terminal 1 from mid-morning to cheer home all members of Team Ireland who competed in various events in Baku, bringing back an impressive haul of six medals – two gold, one silver and three bronze.
There was particularly strong representation from the boxing community with dozens of fans awaiting the arrival of lightweight semi-finalist Seán McComb, silver medallist Brendan Irvine, middleweight champion Michael O'Reilly and the ever-victorious Katie Taylor.
Badminton duo Chloe and Sam McGee also put in a creditable performance with bronze medals in the mixed doubles competition.
Proudly sporting his full Portlaoise Boxing Club attire, local coach Paul Ryan, who trained the now 22-year-old Michael O'Reilly since he was 14, insisted that the athlete touted as one of the country's greatest prodigies in the ring is destined for greatness.
“That’s Michael’s fourth European medal. Michael is destined for greatness, and I don’t say that lightly because he’s a remarkable young man. Under pressure, he’s very calm and very relaxed.”
Following an ecstatic greeting from his amassed admirers, O'Reilly told The Irish Times that the standard of boxing remained ultra-competitive despite questions being raised about overall standards at the Baku tournament.
“It’s a phenomenal feeling to have the gold medal around my neck, and it’s just a start,” he said. “It was a very tough, competitive level. I had four very tough fights and I won them all on unanimous decision. The one in the final would have been the toughest against the home nation boxer, but I got the win which was the main thing,” he said.
The term greatness was also on the lips of a true legend of the women’s game. Having just annexed a remarkable 18th gold medal in international competition, Katie Taylor will enjoy a deserved rest for two weeks before resuming training for Olympic qualification ahead of Rio 2016.
“I want to go down as one of the greatest in the world, and I definitely think I’m on the right path but it would be great to add more titles to my name.
"I don't rate any major competition higher than the others whether it's the Europeans, the Worlds or the Olympic Games. They're all so important to me and I think I'm as hungry as I ever was, and I just want to continue to improve and continue to add titles to my name," said the Bray native, who beat France's Estelle Mossley in the final of the lightweight division.
After a personal audience with their heroine, including photos and autographs, 12-year-old Sophie Clancy and 10-year-old Ellie Maher from St Joseph's Boxing Club in Edenderry spoke of their admiration for Taylor.
“We do boxing as well and we just wanted to come to meet her. She’s a role model.”
Indeed, the decorated Olympian insisted that the growth of women’s boxing in Ireland as a result of her success is the most satisfying of all achievements.
“It’s great to have some sort of an influence on some of these young girls coming up and it’s great to see all the boxing clubs around the country have the female boxing. I think that’s been the most satisfying part about all of this.”
